A/N: A little housekeeping update-if you want links to art, the playlist, or something else, and don't want to go searching, there's a master page on my tumblr now.
Warnings in the end note as always.
Chapter 29
The bar wasn't filled to capacity, but it was still a bit crowded, and most of the people there were engrossed in their own conversations, too much so to pay attention to one teenager trying to pick his way across the floor, or even see across the room to the bar. Kaito was reduced to half-barking out "Excuse me" at regular intervals just to be heard over the conversation and pushing between more than a few people.
By the time he was within a few feet of the bar, Hakuba was staring in his direction.
Well, I wasn't exactly subtle, he thought, chagrined. At least he's still here.
Kaito took a breath, and made eye contact.
To his surprise, Hakuba didn't seem to recognize him. "I think there's a themed bar down the street," he said, in a slightly nasal alto voice with a hint of a laugh to it. "You're not really dressed for this place."
Kaito grinned, and walked up to stand next to him. He rested one elbow on the bar and flashed Hakuba a KID grin. "Didn't know there was a dress code," he said, in his own voice.
"Kuroba-san, what are you doing here?" Hakuba demanded, switching into his normal vocal range and drawing back.
Kaito, honestly, was a little bit done. "You really have to ask?"
"Kuroba-san, this is London," Hakuba said. "You are on the other side of the world. On a school day. This has absolutely gone too far. You're being ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous about it?" Kaito asked, annoyed.
"I've said again and again I'm not coming back," Hakuba said. "We've both got experience with wild goose-chases of sorts, but I'm far less important than Pandora."
It was one thing to acknowledge that he himself thought that way, but it was another thing to hear it out of his other self's mouth.
Specifically, it was subtly horrifying to hear it out of his other self's mouth.
"You are not," Kaito said, and then had to bite down on his lip, because there were implications in that statement for himself, too, and he was not ready to deal with them.
Hakuba was staring at him, eyes wide. "You can't mean that."
"It's a thing," Kaito said, throat dry. "A really dangerous thing, and They can't be allowed to have it, but it's a thing and not a person."
He was cursing a blue streak in his head because he was realizing this as it came out of his mouth, and it was messing with his worldview a lot, but more importantly, Hakuba was here and he needed to get through to him so the existential crisis would have to wait.
"It's the reason we became KID," Hakuba said. "And I never found it. You still have a chance. So take it. And forget about me."
"Why are you so convinced I'm just going to do that?" Kaito asked. "If you're really the same person as me, you've never managed to give up on anyone, not once. Why would I be able to do what you can't?"
"Kuroba-kun, you can do so much I can't," Hakuba said, sounding absolutely exhausted. "Why not this, too?"
"I don't know, maybe I could," Kaito said, steeling himself. "But I don't want to."
"And it takes quite a lot to force Kaitou KID's hand," Hakuba said. His eyes-flickered, that was the best word for it. For just a second, Hakuba's focus wasn't there. "More, certainly, than I would be willing to do."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaito asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I don't think you really want to know," Hakuba said airily. "And I don't think you've really thought this through. I left without either ID or a great amount of money, and you found me in London. It's painfully obvious that I've committed fraud and theft. Do you really think the Tokyo MPD will welcome me back with open arms?"
"Your dad asked me to find you," Kaito said. "Not Kuroba Kaito, Kaitou KID. So, yes, they want you back. Or at least the most important part does. No matter what you did."
"Y-you're lying," Hakuba managed, stiffening. "He would not."
"Do you honestly think I'm enough of an idiot to try to lie straight to the face of someone who knows every single one of my tells?" Kaito asked.
Hakuba laughed, but it was a choked, almost hysterical thing.
"Just-hear me out, please," Kaito said. "Let me try to convince you to come home. You can even try to convince me to stop chasing you, if you want. But, just, let me try, instead of running away before I can get a word in."
Hakuba slumped against the bar, staring up at the ceiling like he was expecting answers to drop from it. Kaito had tried that before too; it never worked.
"Fine," he said at length. "We'll go to wherever you're staying, and talk. But no tricks. The smoke bombs work as well on me as they do on you, and don't even think of using any borrowed gadgets of Edogawa-kun's."
"Don't worry, he wouldn't loan me that stuff," Kaito said.
Hakuba's half-smile looked approving. Kaito thought he should probably be insulted.
More importantly, he thought he should warn Hakuba that Shinichi and Eisuke were probably going to be at the hotel room, and that Heiji was waiting for him in the alley outside the pub-but he thought that, at least, could probably wait until they were out of the crowd and Saguru had less opportunity to bolt.
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Heiji wasn't always the best at reading a situation, so he'd actually asked what the heck was going on when Kaito came out of that last pub in disguise as a street-fashion Goth who'd forgotten the fancy clothes, trailing a tall girl in an updo and a relatively plain outfit.
Then, of course, the "girl" had ground out, "I agreed to talk at where you're staying. Unless you've been sleeping on the streets, I assume this is not that place," in Hakuba-freaking-Saguru's voice, and that was the end of that line of questioning.
"No, we have a hotel room," Kaito had replied, undaunted.
"I assume Kudou's here somewhere, too," Saguru had said, tone flat. "I hope you aren't letting him search New Cross Gate alone at night."
"Don't worry, Eisuke's with him," Kaito had replied, and Heiji just knew he'd said that to get a reaction. He'd gotten one, too-Hakuba had flinched.
"Gang's all here," Heiji had said, grinning.
Hakuba's responding glare probably killed some stray weeds in the sidewalk.
The gang wasn't really all there until they made it to the hotel room, though, and that took a little while. They'd gotten pretty far from where they were staying in their search, and it was well and truly night by the time they made it inside.
When Kaito knocked at the hotel room door, it was opened by an irate Kudou.
"Why didn't you call?" he demanded, somehow still intimidating from knee height. "It's a half-hour past when we agreed to meet back here!"
"We got held up," Kaito said mildly.
Eisuke came up behind them, and looked at Hakuba carefully.
"That's another thing!" Kudou snapped. "You can't just bring witnesses here; wasn't there a coffee shop or something that you could have talked to her in?"
"I bring a girl back to our hotel room and you assume she's a witness?" Kaito asked, laughter mixed into his tone.
"Would you rather I have assumed something else, when I know you're focused on finding Hakuba right now?" Kudou asked.
"It's rude to talk about someone like they aren't here," Eisuke said flatly, staring straight at Hakuba.
"I wasn't really expecting the same trick to work on you twice," Hakuba replied, in his own voice, utterly casual.
Kudou sputtered. Eisuke giggled.
Hakuba smiled, just slightly. "It's good to see that you're well."
Eisuke didn't answer right away. His expression was flat for a few seconds, before turning into something complicated that looked...mostly happy?
"I am, maybe," he said. "But remember the dehydration lecture? You need to give Conan-kun the dehydration lecture."
Hakuba blinked at him, but made no other response.
"The dehydration lecture?" Heiji asked. He pretty much had to.
"Kiyoshi was concerned about my fluid intake," Eisuke said primly, opening the door further. "Are you coming in or not?"
"Well, I've given my word," Hakuba said with a shrug. "Though I only agreed to speak with Kuroba, not the entire teenage branch of the Detective Boys."
Kudou flushed.
"There's only one room," Kaito said, shrugging right back. "Well, unless you count the bathroom-I guess we could lock them in there, but the walls really aren't that thick, and they'll be mad when they get out. Though, speaking of bathrooms…"
Hakuba regarded him evenly. "I suppose it would probably make everyone more comfortable if I changed into something nearer my customary appearance." He cocked his head to the side just slightly. "I don't suppose I could borrow materials from you?"
"Sure," Kaito said, sounding weirdly amused. Maybe he was still picturing the detectives locked in the bathroom.
Heiji gave both of them a bit of a berth as they filed into the room, just in case. Kaito fished a bag and a bundle of clothes out of his luggage and handed them to Hakuba, who went into the bathroom.
The moment the door closed, Kudou turned to Kaito, wide-eyed. "What do we do now?" he hissed.
"Let me handle this," Kaito said, and the voice, the body language, all of it, was 100% KID. His shoulders were squared, his face was blank, his voice was deeper and his pronunciation different. All within a second; it was somewhere between scary and impressive.
"And if you screw it up?" Kudou asked quietly.
"Honestly, Kudou-san," Eisuke said, poking Kudou's wristwatch.
"Actually, I, ah, promised I wouldn't use that," Kaito said carefully.
It was almost creepy when both Eisuke and Shinichi started grinning at the same time.
Kaito promised, Kudou didn't, might as well have been written across their faces.
"Look, I can handle this," Kaito said. "Just...let me talk to him. I know you're curious, and you've helped so far, so it's not like I can ask you to leave...but there's stuff here that you don't understand and I can't explain, so…"
"I'm not going to promise not to talk," Kudou said. "I won't be able to keep a promise like that. But this was your case in the first place, so letting you take the lead is reasonable."
Kaito looked chagrined. "You know, that's really all I probably should have expected."
"From him, it really is a concession," Eisuke said. "You wouldn't be any better, would you?"
Kaito shook his head. "I guess not?"
"Am I interrupting?" Hakuba asked, having emerged from the bathroom.
He was wearing a rumpled button-up shirt and jeans, now, and he looked...mostly like himself. It wasn't like Heiji saw him all the time before he'd run off, but he had a basic mental image of Hakuba, and this mostly fit it. Well, except for the hair. The updo from the female disguise had definitely been a wig, and without it, Hakuba's hair was short, black and near Heiji's length, but without the bangs or the sections of shorter hair near the nape of the neck-it looked more like a buzz cut that had grown out than a true haircut.
"Nah, not really," Kaito said smoothly. "So, sit down. If we're gonna talk, I'd rather not do it standing around awkwardly."
"I'd rather not be here longer than necessary," Hakuba countered.
"Oh my gosh, everything has to be a battle with you," Kaito said. "Sit. Please. You're making me uncomfortable just looking at you."
Heiji, not wanting to cause problems, sat down on the couch, and dragged Kudou along with him. Eisuke claimed the desk chair. Hakuba looked around, realized he was outnumbered, and sighed.
As Hakuba reluctantly sat down on one of the beds, and Kaito sat down facing him on the other, Heiji realized that Kaito kind of had a point about how uneasy Hakuba looked. There was a stiffness to the way Hakuba was holding himself, like he was bracing for something. It reminded Heiji of a lot of things, but most of all Kaito, at the moments when one of them pushed too far. That was...it felt significant, but Heiji wasn't sure how, so he filed it away.
Kaito leaned forward, hands on his knees. "So, first things first: Mom didn't tell anyone but me."
Hakuba's frown thinned. "And you told the detectives, of course."
"Nope," Kaito said cheerily, bouncing just a bit on the bed. "I've been talking around it, for reasons of your privacy. They know you know how to do all the things that KID does, and that you trained with Kuroba Toichi, but I've pretty much just not been explaining stuff and frustrating the heck out of them." He paused. "Hey, Kudou-san, you wanted to talk, confirm that for me?"
"He hasn't explained any of it, whatever it is," Kudou said, glaring up from under his bangs. "Or given us near enough clues to deduce things ourselves."
Hakuba blinked, leaning back, arms crossed over his chest. "And you find that acceptable?"
"He asked us to help, it's his terms," Heiji said. "Won't deny that we've been askin' him whether the secrets are really worth the risk o' not findin' ya at all, but he's been insistin'."
"So, in the end, I overreacted," Hakuba said, sounding almost resigned. "But something would have happened, eventually. I think it's for the best this way."
"Which way?" Kaito asked, hands balling into fists near his hips. "Don't you see? If you ran away because-because of that, no one knows, so it's fine, you can come back!"
"No one knows that, but there's still the matter of my having run off in the first place," Hakuba said. "I'm sure my adoption is now a matter of police gossip?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"If I were to return I'd be bringing with me a newfound reputation that would likely damage Father's, and a lot of unwanted attention from those people who dress in black," Hakuba said. "I don't wish to do either of those things."
"They don't know it's you, not yet," Kudou said.
Hakuba glanced at him, eyes sharp.
"You seem to know enough to ferret Them out in every city you go to," Kudou said. "I assume you know who Vermouth is, too?"
"What does she have to do with any of this, and how do you even know her name?" Hakuba demanded, a distinct, almost hysterical edge to his voice.
"She owes me, and I managed to trick a little information out her," Kudou said.
"Owes you what?" Hakuba said. "She's-according to everything I've heard, that woman doesn't care about people-"
"Ran and I saved her life once," Shinichi said. "Look, the point is, they haven't figured you out, yet, which means your best shot at surviving this is laying low for a while. And going back to Tokyo, back to being Hakuba, that would be a way to do that, right?"
"And if they trace things back to me once I'm there?" Hakuba asked. "That puts you in danger, Kudou-san."
"In Tokyo, we at least have a chance at protecting you," Kudou replied, jaw set.
"You have a chance of endangering yourselves, you mean," Hakuba snapped. "As you likely already have. I've no doubt that the four of you are the topic of a great deal of police gossip at the moment; if anyone becomes too curious…"
Kaito frowned. "We made our choices-"
"And they were foolish!" Hakuba replied.
"The Superintendent-General asked KID to find you, dang it," Kaito half-growled. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"That he's also had a lapse of judgement, one that could cost him his career if exposed, and on my account!" Hakuba half-spat.
"And the fact that he might miss you and be worried about you, worried enough for that to be worth it-that never occurred to you?" Eisuke asked quietly.
"If he felt that way at some point, he's mistaken," Hakuba said, hands balled up into fists on his knees. "I don't belong here; I'm not needed, there's no reason-"
Don't belong here? Heiji echoed mentally. Where's 'here,' to him? He can't mean England; if he meant England he'd be admittin' we were right. An' if he meant Japan, wouldn't he say 'there'?
"Not needed?" Kaito echoed aloud. "You're kidding, right? The Superintendent-General's frantic, Inspector Nakamori's moved from worried to pissed off that he's not in charge of the investigation anymore, and apparently there's some guy in Nagano so set on finding you he nearly wrung all of Kudou's secrets out of Hattori-kun."
Hakuba sat back, blinking, as though the air had been knocked out of him.
"And-and-do you even have any idea what you've done to Aoko?" Kaito continued, gesturing a bit wildly.
It was a mistake. Heiji could see it in the way Hakuba drew himself up, back seiza-straight, smile too-wide and eyes lit in a way that made Heiji think of KID during that first conversation, promising to smash a certain jewel.
"You are the one who has no idea what I've done to Aoko," Hakuba said, grim laughter lurking around the edges of the words. "I know very well."
"What-" Kaito broke off. "Oh, this is some sort of cryptic reference, isn't it? Well, I can't ask you to explain under these circumstances, can I?"
"No, I suppose you can't," Saguru said, and his expression was still sharp in a way that made Heiji wary. "So perhaps you should just accept that you aren't meant to understand certain things, and then leave them alone."
"I can't do that," Kaito said fiercely.
"If you insist, well, then know this much-you don't want me to come back," Hakuba said. "It will end in disaster. It did last time, and it will-"
"I know that!" Kaito interrupted. "I talked to Akako," he said, more quietly. "About how she'd do it. About what probably happened, to get you here. But I think, if things have been different so far, they can keep being different. Not just for me. For you, too."
Well, Heiji was officially lost, and Kudou didn't seem to be doing any better, by the look on his face. Eisuke was harder to read, but probably just as confused.
"What the h*** were you doing talking to her?" Hakuba demanded-more loudly than he'd asked about Vermouth, Heiji noted.
"She's doing better now, she hasn't tried anything, and you know what-I'll tell you what I told Mom," Kaito said. "I'll take some risks if it means we can get you home safely."
"There are risks, and then there's Koizumi-san," Hakuba said. "You're-this is mad. You're going to get yourself killed on my account and I won't allow it."
"She's not gonna kill me," Kaito said. "She's had chances and she didn't take them; I'm fine."
"You're arrogant," Hakuba replied, and his voice was...slipping. The English accent was fading and something else was slipping past, and the timbre was fluctuating, word by word. It was weird to listen to. "Screwing around like this, it's how-" He broke off, turning his head away.
Kaito's eyes hardened. "I'm not screwing around. I know what I'm doing."
"No, you don't," Hakuba said, meeting Kaito's eyes again, and he didn't even sound like himself anymore. "You were supposed to be better than this."
"Are you here to decide whether I'm capable, too?" Kaito asked, frowning dangerously, shoulders squared. "Because I'm getting really d*** tired of random testing."
"I would never," Hakuba said, drawing himself up, and the movement, the pattern of it, looked familiar, though Heiji couldn't place it. "I couldn't judge you even if I wanted to. But if you aren't good enough, you could die, don't you get that?"
He really didn't sound like Hakuba anymore, not even a little bit. His voice was still deep, but not as deep, and it had a distinct Tokyo accent with only traces of British pronunciation around the edges. His body language wasn't really Hakuba's either-gone were the careful posture and stiff movements, in favor of a mixture of careful stillness and fluid movement that pulled at Heiji's memory.
"If you're so concerned, then come back to Tokyo with me and keep me out of trouble!" Kaito snapped, leaning forward.
"It would take an army," Hakuba sighed, slumping just a bit. "And you're asking the wrong person. I'm no one's idea of a bodyguard."
"I don't want you to be a bodyguard, I'm just beginning to think that's the only way you'll actually come," Kaito replied, sounding just as tired.
And pretty much the same, which was freakin' suspicious. Heiji looked at them for a few more seconds, scanning the way their tired slumps mirrored one another, and then applied his understanding of how Kaito's body language worked to the last minute or so of Hakuba bristling. Things at once made a lot more sense, and absolutely no sense at all.
Are they the same person, or what? He wondered, frustrated.
"That would explain some things, yeah," Eisuke said thoughtfully.
Heiji looked up, startled, and realized he had said that last thing out loud. And that everyone was staring at him. Including Hakuba, whose expression was definitely one of Kaito's, specifically the cornered-and-freaked-out one.
"He was probably just talking to himself," Kaito said, quickly, eyes darting back to Hakuba. There was a hint of nervousness to the set of his shoulders. "Don't worry about it."
Hakuba was clearly worried, though-he was still as a statue, and his eyes were saucer-wide.
And Heiji was starting to put things together. If ya ignore the fact that it makes no sense fer them ta be the same person, it makes a lotta other things make sense, he thought slowly. How he got trained by Kaito's Dad and knows everything he does, how he knows who Kudou is...and that time I mixed up KID and Hakuba and it freaked Kaito out. No, more than that—the mixup at Deptford Station, when they thought Kaito was Hakuba—that has something to do with it. Does he look like Kaito, out of disguise? And what about Officer Cassidy, and how she kept looking at Kaito when we were talking about Hakuba's blood samples? It musta been Kaito's blood that Phantom Lady sent, and they both knew it, and that's why she was being so dang weird about everythin'.
Yeah, it seems nuts, but I'm actually onto something, aren't I?
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A/N: Warnings for discussion of knocking someone out involuntarily (I mean, this is DCMK, but I'm covering my bases here), discussion of character death and some pretty serious self-esteem issues being expressed through dialogue.
There's a drawing in the "riddle in reverse" tag on my tumblr that is pretty much what Hakuba looks like right now. It's not on that masterlist page because it's not art of the fic, but the artist said I could put it in the tag so you guys could have it as a reference.
Okay, next chapter is the moment a lot of you have been waiting for. So, time to get your speculation in-what exactly happened in the other timeline? I'm interested to hear what you guys think, and whether you're enjoying the fic!
